30 Days of Night

Title: 30 Days of Night
Author: Steve Niles
Finished: April 18, 2009
Pages: 83
Published: 2007

Not my favorite graphic novel to date, but still very interesting as I have already seen the movie while it was in theaters.

30 Days of Night (volume 1) is about Barrow, Alaska, a little town that for 30 days in the winter the sun does not rise, which catches the attention of a clan of vampires who decide to go on a feeding frenzy.

It was a very interesting story, and the fact that it continues will help motivate me to read some of the other volumes, and I imagine it only gets better. And who doesn’t love a vampire story now and again?

Challenges: Book Into Movie, 999 Challenge, 100+ Challenge, Countdown Challenge, New Authors Challenge, 1st in Series Challenge, Vampire Challenge, Book Binge

2009 Banned Book Challenge – Complete

DETAILS HERE

This one didn’t take as long as I thought it would. All the books were surprises I didn’t have on my original list which made my reading and this challenge even more fun.

The books I read were:

1. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
2. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
3. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I had many more on my list, so although this challenge is complete for me, I will still be reading them and look forward to next years challenge to continue on with new ones.

The Pillars of the Earth

Title: The Pillars of the Earth
Author: Ken Follett
Finished: April 18, 2009
Pages: 973
Published: 1989

Our fourth book club read, a large one at that.

The Pillars of the Earth tells the long journey of a family as they struggle to survive through the ups and downs of life. Tom Builder wants to become the master builder to a wonderful cathedral but has a hard time finding work and the means to support his family. He is striken by loss and fears he will never find happiness again.

With a book of this epic proportion it’s hard to go through the entire plot without somehow giving away key points. I know I found the book more enjoyable by not reading much about it prior so I didn’t know what to expect. Some of it was rather shocking, the sense that you never expected the author to do something so drastic.

And then there’s combination of spirituality and obstinance while mixed with vuglar sexual encounters. It is such a diverse book that even if you don’t like overly spiritual or overall romantic books, there is more than enough to go around for it to appeal to so many readers of different varieties.

Unsure in the beginning the form the book would take and the overall message, I was happy at finding that the book covered so many lives and years that the focus involved a whole community rather than a single character and family, while still holding the readers attention and hooking them on the various storylines.

It was well worth the read, despite the almost 4 weeks it took me to read it.

Challenges: Chunkster Challenge, A-Z Challenge, 999 Challenge, 100+ Challenge, New Authors Challenge, Banned Book Challenge, Book Binge

Other Reviews:

• Under the Boardwalk

It’s Monday. What are you reading?

A weekly event hosted by J. Kaye’s Book Blog, to discuss your recent reads and those you plan on reading in the coming week.

It was a great reading week, if only because of the read-a-thon this past Saturday. Which leads me to believe that this coming week will be a little slow because I’m a little read out. Nevertheless, everything on my list is pretty easy to get back into it.

Read Last Week:

1. Knit Two by Kate Jacobs
2. The Road to Oz by L. Frank Baum
3. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
4. 300 by Frank MIller
5. Love Letters of Great Men by John C. Kirkland
6. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
7. 30 Days of Night by Steve Niles
8. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
9. Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons

Reading This Week:

• Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
• Violets are Blue by James Patterson
• The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis
• The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (hoping to start)

Love Letters of Great Men

Title: Love Letters of Great Men, Vol. 1
Author: John C. Kirkland
Finished: April 18, 2009
Pages: 132
Published: 2008

This book has probably seen more readers than ever before, due to the film Sex and the City as Carrie reads Big one from her library book.

Almost immediately I began search for the book if only to feel the love that men from history have shared with their loves. It was a great and inspirational read.

I am intrigued after reading to see what Kirkland has in mind for Vol. 2. This specific volume only includes love letters through 1915, and it’s hard to imagine that is all there remains. I’m sure as the years so along real love letters have ceased to exist and have been replaced with quick text messages and emails or actual conversations.

Some of my favorites include:

• Gaius Plinius Secundus to Calpurnia, 100 A.D. (page 14)
• Beethoven to Antonie von Birkenstock Brentano, 1812 (page 50-53)
• Count Leo Tolstoy to Valeria Arsenev, Nov 2, 1856 (page 84)
• Robert Schumaan to Clara Wieck, 1838 (page 89)

Challenges: 999 Challenge, 100+ Challenge, New Authors Challenge, RYOB Challenge, Book Binge